Mike and I were looking for a “Stumble Upon” in the area of 46th Street and 2nd Avenue. We found a fun looking Scandanavian place with a “Restaurant Month” menu on 49th Street and 2nd Avenue called Smorgas Chef (turns out they have one in the West Village, Midtown East, and on Wall Street). Their “Restaurant Month” menu was smart, with just a little more to offer than the standard 3 course restaurant week menu. They offered either an aquavit, glass of wine, or Carlsberg beer with an amuse bouche and then the standard 3 courses. I went with a glass of wine (the pinot grigio was… ok) and Mike had the beer, which he seemed to enjoy very much since he didn’t even share! Our waitress also gave us a very detailed explanation of aquavit (it involed oak barrels and boats circling the globe) but we both went in a different direction (her description of “vodka with anise and liquorice” which are three of my least favorite things).
Our amuse bouche (that’s a “mouthful” of food for anyone who doesn’t watch Top Chef as religiously as I do) was a creamy soup (probably potato and cream) with potatoes, pancetta, and salmon topped with chives and what may have been truffle oil? It was tasty and definitely more than a mouthful.
I ordered the beat salad with goat cheese and spiced walnuts. These are three of my favorite things and they did not dissapoint, though I found the greens a bit on the bitter side (I’m not a huge fan of bitter greens). The goat cheese was lightly fried and warm (Nom Nom Nom) and then spiced walnuts were absolutely incredible. I thought I make great spiced nuts, but mine were no where near this good. I can’t figure out how they made them! The beats were quite tasty though and I love the yellow/red combo.
Mike ordered one of the things on the menu that was recommended as a “Scandinavian Classic.” The Aquavit cured Gravlaks (house cured salmon) with mustard sauce came with pan roasted potatoes and a cucumber dill salad. That large circle was a cracker like thing that was just a little too hard for my taste, but worked well as a conduit for eating the gravlaks (which were delicious, however, I’m not a fan of mustard sauce). Mike, however, thoroughly enjoyed them.
Lori’s fun entry about Ikea food reminded me how much I love Swedish Meatballs so I couldn’t resist. They were decent, but not overly special. (I remember enjoying Ikea’s more, though it has been a long time). The potatoes were bland, and I’m not a mashed potato junky, and the julienne veggies were nice, but also bland. The best part were the lingonberries that just burst in your mouth. Overall it was ok, but the entire dish could have used more flavor.
Mike went with the steak that said it came with a citrus herb butter sauce. I don’t know if I tasted citrus, herb, nor butter, but the steak itself was tasty and the frieds nice and crispy. It was better than the meatballs in flavor, but still nothing amazing.
